Candace Marie Claiborne, 60, US diplomat allegedly charged with taking thousands of dollars in cash and gifts from Chinese intelligence officials have been charged for lying to investigators about her contact.
The Department of Justice said that Candace knew the money that was given to her by the men was for trading US secrets, because the men were security officials of the Chinese government. She took cash given to her and a new iPhone, and also shared some of the loot with an unidentified man she stayed with in Beijing and Shanghai.
The Chinese agents also paid her fashion school tuition, sewing machine, apartment rent, vacations and other needs she demanded from the men.
In a statement by Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord;
Candace Marie Claiborne is a US State Department employee who possesses a Top Secret security clearance and allegedly failed to report her contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with thousands of dollars of gifts and benefits.
Claiborne used her position and her access to sensitive diplomatic data for personal profit.
Candace has been working for the department since 1999, and in recent times had financial problems. She was arrested on Wednesday, and pleaded not guilty in her first court appearance on Wednesday.
The case has been announced just days before the US President Donald Trump will meet with the Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida next week.